Highlights: The highlight of my volunteer experience was every morning when I arrived at work, and one of the little girls would run to me and jump straight into my arms. I also cherished the hours spent shedding love on the babies who only had contact with their hard-working parents for a small portion of the day. I will always remember those children’s smiles.
The weekends when I explored different parts of Ecuador were major highlights and made me fall in love with the country and its generous and amicable people. One weekend my host brothers, another volunteer and I took the bus to Otavalo, the largest indigenous market in South America. From there we travelled around to different villages in the countryside where a number of festivals were happening. We danced indigenous dances in the streets, tried street food like grilled banana with cheese and roasted cuy (guinea pig – Ecuador’s national dish), and made many new friends. I will never forget that weekend.
Morning: I wake up at 7:00am and take a cold shower, since my host family has no hot water. After I get dressed I go to the kitchen where my host mom sets out a fresh bread roll, guava jam and mild white cheese to eat and fresh fruit juice and instant coffee to drink. I then go to the street corner and hail a bus going to the historic center of Quito, and from there walk through a park and up a street toward the Gothic Church, where I take a bus going up a volcano to the daycare center I volunteer at. After the final trek from the bus stop to the daycare center, I ring the bell by linking two wires together, and proceed to la sala de los bebes, where I take care of 6-7 children below the age of two.
Afternoon: At the daycare center I work from 8am to 3pm with cleaning and caring for the children and their play spaces. I help them wash their hands before the daily meal, usually consisting of rice, meat and soup, and then brush their teeth after the meal. After work I take the two buses back, stopping in between at my favorite pastry shop in Centro Historico, and take another cold shower when I get home.
Evening: In the evening I eat dinner with my host family, usually soup as a first course and meat or chicken with rice as the second course. Ecuadorian soups are the best! After dinner I either watch TV with my host family or go and explore Quito with my host brothers. Sometimes we go to our favorite bar in the bohemian area, or to our favorite café in Mariscal, the tourist hub popularly called Gringolandia.